As the business and
cultural district of the country, Colombo has good
representations of traditional wares from all over
Sri Lanka including items on a more contemporary shopping
menu. Aside from shopping arcades in many hotels,
there are great varieties of specialty shops in the Colombo. >Majestic City and Liberty Plaza are the 2 main
department stores, both with supermarkets (Cargills
and Keells respectively), stocking a wide range of foreign
goods and products.
Pettah is a site
for good bargains on anything and everything. The normal
shops in Pettah close on Sundays but the Main Street
substitutes as an open air bazaar. Another similar bazaar
develops well
on Olcott Street, near Fort railway station.
Sri Lanka is a main garment manufacturer
and exporter. Famous international brand name clothes
are available at very reasonable prices. The well known Odel
on 5 Alexandra Place, Lipton Circus, Colombo 7 is the place where you can find cotton shirts, T-shirts, jumpers and padded jackets as well as a snack at the in house cafe.
Another
similar shop is Cotton Collections
at Ernest de Silva Mawatha, Colombo 7 where you can find clothing for women, men and children. Both
have branches in Majestic City. Kids, 169 kynsey Road, Colombo
8, is a place for pre teenage clothing and Toys For U, 385 RA De Mel Mawatha is where toys are sold.
Majestic City has Leather Collection
for bags and shoes. Although gem and jewellery shops are distributed
throughout Colombo, the greatest concentration is at the Sri
Lanka Gem and Jewellery Exchange, 310 Galle Road, Colombo
3 where the State Gem Corporation has a testing
centre (telephone: 576144-46).
Laksala, the state run emporium, 60 York Street, Fort (telephone: 323513) is the best place for handicrafts.
Lanka Mahila Samiti Craft Centre, 1st Floor Unity
Plaza, Galle Road, Colombo 4, has rural handicrafts at good prices
and Barefoot, 704 Galle Road, Colombo 3, provides quality
handicrafts at higher rates.
For antiques, buyers can visit Paradise Road,
which doubles as a restaurant and has several branches, and Lanka Ceramics Ltd,.(Telephone: 589349) at Bambalapitiya
is ideal for ceramics.
For a taste of the best tea in the world,
sales counters at the Sri Lanka Tea Board, 574 Galle Road, Colombo 3, is a great place for it.
Bookshops
at the Serendib Gallery sell rare
books on Sri Lanka and on antiques. For contemporary books, buyers can head for Vijitha
Yapa 202-5 Galle Road; Unity Plaza, Colombo
4 (another branch on the same side of the road); Lake House
Bookshop, 100 Chitt ampalam Gardiner Mawatha, Colombo 3;
and Bookland, 20 Street, Michaels Road, Union Assurance
Centre, Colombo 3. |
